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How reliable is a history book? Anything is up for interpretation, which also depends on how the information is presented. While we're at it, let's all question the reliability of wikipedia.

In the case of the documentary I talk about, it includes:

- Images and recordings from that times (in black and white)
- Declarations made by existing people at that time, from that time. (like what Daladier said when arriving in France after the meeting. Things that you can't find on "sources" like wikipedia)

- Images and recordings from that times (in black and white)
- Declarations made by existing people at that time, from that time. (like what Daladier said when arriving in France after the meeting. Things that you can't find on "sources" like wikipedia)

So, more reliable than wikipedia for sure.

True, my point is that I see so many people rely on it here when pretty much any written book or documentary's more reliable.

People in the West throw away millions of old computers every year. Hundreds of thousands of them end up in Africa, where children try to eke out a living by selling the scrap. But the toxic elements in the waste are slowly poisoning them.

According to the Bible, God rained down fire and brimstone to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. "Sodom and Gomorrah" is also what officials in Accra, Ghana, have come to call a part of their city plagued by toxins of a sort the residents of the Biblical cities couldn't even have imagined. No one sets foot in this place unless they absolutely have to.

Acrid, black smoke drifts over the huts of the slum. The river, too, is black and thick like used oil, as it carries empty computer cases toward the ocean. Fires are blazing on the bank across the way, fueled by foam and slivers of plastic. Their flames consume the plastic material from cables, plugs and motherboards, leaving behind only metal.

There's a wind today, blowing the smoke from these infernal fires low across the ground. Breathing in too deeply is painful to the lungs, and the people tending the fires are sometimes nothing more than vague, foggy silhouettes.

One small, stooped figure makes his way between the fires. With one hand, the boy drags an old speaker through the ashes and dirt, pulling it along behind him on a cord. His other hand clutches a bag.

The speaker and the bag are all that belong to this boy, who bears the unusual first name of Bismarck, aside from the T-shirt and pants he's wearing. Fourteen-years-old but small for his age, Bismarck scours the ground for anything the older boys might have left behind after burning a batch of computers. It might be bits of copper cable, the motor from a hard drive, or leftover pieces of aluminum. The magnets in his speaker also pick up screws or steel plugs.

Bismarck drops everything he finds into his bag. Once the bag is half full, he can sell the metal and buy some rice, maybe a tomato too, or even a chicken drumstick grilled over a refurbished car wheel rim. But today, the boy says, he still hasn't found enough, and he disappears again into the smoke.

- Images and recordings from that times (in black and white)
- Declarations made by existing people at that time, from that time. (like what Daladier said when arriving in France after the meeting. Things that you can't find on "sources" like wikipedia)

''I am alarmed that we may lose the trust of the United States if we try to scrap, in a one-sided way, the Japan-U.S. agreement when the United States is telling Japan to comply with it,'' Okada told a press conference in the city of Naha.

''I feel a very strong sense of crisis about the current situation of the Japan-U.S. alliance and I strongly hope that I will be able to somehow break the stalemate,'' he added.

But Okada said that his remarks at the press conference were not intended to suggest a particular direction, while noting that the government needs to reach ''a political decision that may not be the best, but a better option.''

Quote:

The Futemma issue is weighing heavily on the Democratic Party of Japan-led government, which is caught between U.S. pressure and expectations among people in Okinawa that the DPJ will seek to relocate the facility outside of the prefecture in line with its stance prior to the Aug. 30 House of Representatives election.

Also complicating the issue is the DPJ's relations with its two junior coalition partners -- the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party -- which do not necessarily take the same position, especially on foreign policy issues.

An earlier ban on minarets at the canton level was deemed unconstitutional. Whether this being a full popular vote on a national level makes it constitutional is something beyond my limited knowledge of the Swiss legal system.

Actually the whole affair was a bit more complicated, akin to a table tennis game between the public and all the judicial instances:

- In Wangen bei Olten, a permit to add over their community center a 6m minaret was asked by the local muslim community.

- As in every building permit procedure, a mast was erected to show to the neighborhood how it will impact the area.

- Peoples of the neighborhood, displeased with it, manifested their opposition as is usual in building procedure, gathering in an association, appealing to the municipality.

- The municipality ruled in favor of the minaret, considering the opposition was only fueled by religious concerns, as advocated by the muslim community.

- The local opposition association appealed to the cantonal (state) tribunal which ruled in it's favor.

- The muslim community appealed to the federal tribunal which ruled in it's favor.

- Consequently the minaret was erected on the community center.

- A precedent being set, muslim communities from other small municipalities applied for the addition of minarets to their community centers.

- Citizens from over the country, displeased by this chain of events, gathered into a Popular Initiative Commity, and started gathering signature for a Popular Innitative amending the Constitution to ban the construction of minarets in the country, valid signatures were gathered in a sufficient number in due time, enabling it for a votation, which occurred the 29th november 2009, seeing it pass with 57% and double majority of the people and cantons.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Autumn Demon

How comprehensive was this ban on minarets? Did it define what a minaret is?

As a non-religious person, a minaret is just a cool looking tower with historical significance to me. I wonder what would happen if someone built a minaret-looking tower in Switzerland but didn't call it a minaret nor let it be used for religious purposes.

This ban on minarets goes beyond just freedom of religion to infringe the freedom of expression (of architects) and equality (of towers (yes, towers have rights too!)).

The Swiss Constitution is 197 articles so I'll stop here. :O :O :O :O

Actually Swiss people don't like cool looking towers in their country. And there is no such thing as freedom of architectural expression here, far from it actually, every construction has to abide strict building regulations and go trough the scrutiny of the neighborhood.

Even within the larger cities, Swiss construction is characterized by it's limited heigth, sobriety in the choice of shape and material: in one word, lack of impact. Here , our existing natural, agricultural and urban landscape are considered almost sacred, as reflected in our legislations.
For example, to protect the typical swiss countryside, cultivators are given incentives to maintain their small sized lots, and we are spending fortunes to bury our highways in trenches.

I might add that there is no infrigement over religion freedom, as minarets are not essential to religious practice, especially when they are silent, defeating their original purpose.

I might add that there is no infrigement over religion freedom, as minarets are not essential to religious practice, especially when they are silent, defeating their original purpose.

How right! Now make them see sense in this. All the odds are against you.

__________________

When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

there is was no infrigement over religion freedom until the very recent times. Now there is.

Fixed

(Well I won't mind if Swiss state proves that I'm wrong with its future actions.)

__________________

Oversized signature, meet underfed bunnies.Natsuru:
- This cake is great. But I don't think I could eat the rest of it by myself.Black Seppuku Bunny:
- Want us to help you?Harakiri Tiger:
- We'd be happy to take a piece.Natsuru:
- Can you even digest it with your guts hanging out like that?

Jesus never needed a church to preach. I don't see any protests against the building of churches based on some notion of necessity.

Precisely. In the old testament there is this young ward who continued to pray despite being scrutinised and locked up by the King (forgot his name, please advise).

Think of all the schools, hospitals and bomb shelters you can build with that amount of material. Why build a white elephant instead?

__________________

When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

Tokyo - Four teenage children of U.S. military personnel at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with an incident in which a woman on a motorbike was seriously injured after being knocked off her bike by a rope strung across a road, investigative sources said.
[...]
The four teenagers admitted to conspiring to stretch the rope on the road but denied they had criminal intent, the police said, adding the four also told investigators that they had not expected to be accused of attempted murder as a result of their action.

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"If ignorance is bliss, then why aren't more people happy?" -- Misc.

Currently listening: Nadda
Currently reading: Procrastination for the win!
Currently playing: "Quest of D", "Border Break" and "Gundam Senjou no Kizuna".
Waiting for: "Shining Force Cross"!

"We've discussed this for years among black women," said Denene Millner, author of several books on black relationships. "Why is it when they get to this level ... they tend to go directly for the nearest blonde?"

In one sense Tiger looks just like his fellow professional golfers in terms of his choice of female companion. When I attended the Ryder Cup matches in 1999, the contrast between the contingent of wives from the American and European teams was truly striking. Nearly every American wife was blond and gorgeous by traditional standards (comparisons to the "Stepford" wives were commonplace). In contrast the European players had a somewhat more diverse array of partners, a few of whom were definitely not candidates for the runway. By 2008, though, the Europeans appear to have taken a page from the Americans as their bevy of partners looked much more homogeneous and, largely, blonde. (I can't seem to drum up a photo of the 1999 wives, but you can see the 2008 ladies here and here. The opening photo in that second gallery with Elin Woods and Luke Donald's fiancee, Diana Antonopoulos, shows that there's still some diversity on the Europeans' side.)

In terms of the broader issue of interracial marriages, it's still very rare to see a white man with a black female companion. Most interracial couples I've seen in real life or in the media tend to include a black man paired with a white woman. The cited article only scratches the surface of the anger that many black woman have expressed about this situation. Black professional woman often lament the lack of black professional men, a situation that won't change if patterns like this continue into the years ahead.